3 Elizabeth Men Plead Guilty To 2007 Beating Death

ELIZABETH – Three Elizabeth men admitted beating a 23-year-old city man to death in 2007 last week, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office announced.

Jeffrey Delatorre, 22, Diego Carrera, 20 and Roberto Fernandez, 22, each face a 15-year state prison sentence for aggravated manslaughter, according to Assistant Prosecutor Patricia Cronin who handled the case for the Prosecutor’s Office.

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On April 27, 2007, Andino Chicas was walking home from a friend’s house when he was attacked on Monroe Avenue. His assailants encircled him and beat him until he fell to the ground. Delatorre then kicked Chicas in the head while wearing steel-toed boots, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Witnesses called 911 to report the attack, and Chicas was taken to Trinitas Hospital, where he died a short time later from severe blunt force trauma to his head.

“What was particularly shocking about this crime was the randomness of it and the sheer brutality involved,” said Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow.

According to family members, Chicas worked as an electrician in Newark and would routinely send money home to help his family in his native country of El Salvador.